St. Joseph East Side Lions' Mobile Pantry

The East Side Lions partner with the Second Harvest Food Bank to combat hunger in their community.

The St. Joseph East Side Lions have taken the fight against hunger to the streets of St. Joseph. East Side has partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank on two projects: The Fresh Mobile Pantry and No Hunger Summer: Free Meals for Kids.

About the Fresh Mobile Pantry, East Side President Lion Mike Culjat writes, "Implemented in 2016, the Fresh Mobile Pantry program is designed to distribute fresh produce and lean proteins by bringing the items to the designated community. According to Andrew Foster, Volunteer Coordinator, distribution sites are determined from criteria that evaluated need within Second Harvest’s service area alongside the access to food and/or resources. These areas are known as food deserts, or area’s in which food is hard to come by. Currently, Second Harvest distributes food items in 40 different site locations across 19 counties, four in Kansas and fifteen in Missouri, each month. In order to make this program successful Second Harvest teams with volunteers and various agencies to assist with the food distribution. As much of their service area aligns with a major portion of the 26-M4 Lion's District, it makes for a great partnership. For over a year now the St. Joseph East Side Lion's Club has acted as one such agency. Generally on the first Monday of each month 10 to 12 Lions meet at the Frontier Casino parking lot to distribute food to the needy. Rain or shine, snow or ice, we typically serve around 300 families and over 1000 people. This effort generally takes one and a half to two hours to complete. Most of the East Side Lion's Club recent efforts have revolve around hunger issues. This activity was selected as a club project just as people were beginning to deal with Covid-19. We could work out in the fresh air, maintain our distance as we simply loaded food stuffs in car trunks or pickup beds, and still serve the hungry in our community."

About the No Hunger Summer, East Side President Lion Mike Culjat writes, "Hunger does not take a break during the summer. Because of the need we observed in our community, the St. Joseph East Side Lion's Club chose to team up with Andrew Foster and Second Harvest (https://www.shcfb.org/who-we-are/) to address this issue. Second Harvest maintains over two dozen sites in and around the greater St. Joseph area as part of this program. The East Side Lions staff four of these locations every week. Two to four volunteers work each location handing out prepared lunches to the hungry. Every weekday for 10 weeks this summer, from 11:30am-12:30pm, kids across No Hunger Summer cafe sites around St. Joseph, MO receive a nutritious lunch (currently grab & go meals) in a positive, encouraging environment at no charge. With the help of volunteers such as the East Side Lions and other community organizations, we are able to maintain such a worthwhile program. Summer should be a fun time, and not a time for hunger. At Second Harvest Community Food Bank, we know that summer break takes away the opportunity for kids that receive free or reduced-price lunches to have access to nutritious foods. The No Hunger Summer feeding program provides free lunches to children 18 and under five days a week during this period."

As St Joseph East Side continues their partnership with Second Harvest in St Joseph, Second Harvest looks to partner with more Lions' clubs throughout their service area to get food to those who need the help.

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